For all of the excitement an expanded College Football Playoff has created, there is at least one unintended consequence that seems to be revealing itself during Ohio State’s incredible postseason tear.
Rivalries no longer matter.
For all the dancing, prancing, flaunting and flag-planting we witnessed during rivalry week this season, Ohio State is proving teams can lose multiple times now — including its last game to its fiercest opponent — and suffer no consequences.
Of course, try telling Ryan Day in the moment that losing to Michigan doesn’t matter. He looked spooked by the ghost of Bo Schembechler walking off the field of Ohio Stadium. Jack Sawyer was ready to fight the entire state of Michigan. We were all still indoctrinated by the old set of rules.
There was a time when losing the last game of the season was a death sentence in college football. Those days ended long ago, but even since the inception of the four-team playoff, no team with two losses ever qualified. A second loss meant the police were showing up to the party. It was time to go home.
Not anymore.
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We’ve never seen anything like what the Buckeyes are doing. As a result, it’s time for college football fans to recalibrate what matters and what doesn’t. If the Playoff indeed expands again in the coming years, rivalry games will continue depreciating faster than a used Lincoln.
I considered this while watching the Buckeyes dismantle Oregon in the first half of their quarterfinal game and then again while reading Joe Rexrode’s thoughtful piece this week on Ohio State fans still grappling with the Michigan loss. Ohio State fans have endured every stage of grief and jubilation within a span of about two months.
After the Michigan loss, I thought Ohio State would either lose to Tennessee or win the whole thing. There was really no middle ground, and I probably would’ve leaned more toward losing to Tennessee than winning it all. I was a prisoner of the old guard.
“We could quit, like we knew everyone wanted us to … or be the best team in the country, like we know we are.
We chose Option B.”@jacksawyer33 and @OhioStateFB are one win away. https://t.co/kAnmCf2sq5
— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) January 16, 2025
For years, Michigan losses felt like funerals and John Cooper was the caterer at the repast.
“I’m sorry for your loss. Have some baked beans.”
Now Ohio State has lost to Michigan and managed to make the Playoff in two of the last three years. It is a win over Notre Dame away from claiming another national championship.
Suddenly, Michigan doesn’t really seem to be a big deal anymore.
By next November, given what the Buckeyes have already accomplished, will we view Ohio State-Michigan or the Iron Bowl the same way?
Ohio State is practically assured of making the Playoff every year it enters the Michigan game with only one loss. Ohio State fans’ visceral reaction to losing to Michigan was in part because we have been conditioned for generations to believe a two-loss team, particularly when one of those losses occurs in the final game, signals the end of the season.
Alabama lost to Auburn a few years ago and still managed to play for a national championship, but it was the Tide’s only loss.
Imagine how much different Cooper’s legacy in Columbus might look today if 12-team playoffs were a thing in the 1990s? If Cooper had a meaningful chance to right his Michigan wrongs in a postseason tournament?
The Jim Tressel era may never have occurred.
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A big part of what has made rivalries so romantic in college football is their impact on postseason fate. Teams eliminated from meaningful bowl games could at least wreck your enemy’s house and make them miserable, too. Only we’re starting to realize how the Playoff has stripped away all of those punitive damages.
Day said he was “very, very grateful” for this expanded format. No kidding. His house might be on Zillow without it.
“I do think the new format has allowed our team to grow and build throughout the season,” Day said. “And as much as losses hurt, they really allow us as coaches and players to take a hard look at the issues and get them addressed.”
Still writing our story… 📝 pic.twitter.com/2vg2sk6ODN
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) January 15, 2025
As college football continues to blur deeper into the professional game, fans of Power 5 teams must also begin altering their expectations.
Does anyone care or even remember that the Green Bay Packers were a wild-card team in 2010? What about the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005 or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020? What’s more important, the fact they didn’t win their division or that all three teams won Super Bowls?
The same is true now in college football. How long before the right three-loss SEC team makes the Playoff? Impossible? We might find out if the field ever expands to 16 teams.
Winning the conference doesn’t really matter — all four conference champs were eliminated in their first games. Losing to a rival doesn’t have to matter.
As players rightfully begin to cash in on the riches of the college game, school presidents and athletic directors are finally saying out loud what truly matters most.
Money.
Ryan Day and the Ohio State fan base are forever grateful.
(Photo of Ryan Day and Jack Sawyer celebrating at the Cotton Bowl trophy ceremony: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
